Top Gun pilot to lead Hubble repair team

Remember in Top Gun, where Maverick flies upside-down to flip the bird at a rival pilot? Well, someone actually did that, and it was this guy. And in a real-life move that smacks of Hollywood, NASA has tapped this hot shot pilot (now retired, actually) to command space shuttle Atlantis during its voyage to repair the ailing Hubble.

Scott Altman is his name, and I just get the feeling that his mustache is like a wire brush. What? I’m just saying. In any case, he seems to think that flying the shuttle is more difficult than flying inverted ten feet above another jet — one-handed, of course, since he’s flicking the guy off. I’m tempted to believe him — based on the cockpit alone, the shuttle has the “Mig” (actually an F-5) beaten hands-down.